The Fires of War

Roger struggled to assert dominance over the two massive Marines.

Roger thundered, with a voice that made thunder sound like a school bell.

" Sengoku! If thou dare to lay a finger on my son, I shall become death…"

That being said, the very Earth below him exploded, and rocks half the size of a ship started to rain down upon the ranks of the Marines. But on their own side, Garp and his colleague did their own share.

Their Haki was enough to make hundreds of pirates fall, making them froth white bubbles. Thousands of pirates felt dizzy and nauseous, and their legs wobbled like a jelly. The two legends were not all names and titles, that was sure.

Garp muttered under his breath, a guttural gasp which was dwarfed by the turmoils that surrounded him. " That Roger…. Does aging play no part in his physique?"

Even in the sidelines, the Shichibukai were amazed by the brilliance of the duel. Gecko Moria stared in awe at the terror that was occurring in front of his eyes, and Boa Hancock was not much better. Bartholomew Kuma, robotic as always, did not show any emotion, but Doflamingo's hands bristled with goosebumps as he cackled at the clash.

The clash of Haoshoku was continuing , but it had done it's destruction. The trio struggled heavily to avoid loss in their own side, while also trying to destroy the other.

They were qual, and there was no other word better suited for it. Not one person gave an edge, and thus, there was no win.

They struggled like that, and more than a bead of sweat started to pour down from their foreheads.

In the meantime, the Executioners' swords came down upon Ace's head again.

And now, the pirates had no chance of preventing the killing.

Roger was already tied up with Garp and Sengoku, and Whitebeard was having his arms full with the Vice-Admirals and Akainu.

And when the Blades came down upon his nape, even Roger staggered for a moment.

"JUST STOP IT ALREADY~~~!!!!!" Raged out Luffy in utter desperation and despair, and tears bloomed out of his large eyes, now wet with worries.

And unconsciously, he did help Roger to stop the execution.

Now, not only did Roger pose a threat to the Marines by his Haki, also did Monkey. D. Luffy using his own bit of Haoshoku.

He had never knew that he had possessed the Colour of the Supreme King, and he did not even know what Haki was, for that matter. But still, when he bellowed, the words washed over the remaining Marines as if sound-waves had materialistic power.

His power, the tie-breaker between the three great men, made the two Executioners to fall down headfirst into the iron surface of the tower on which they had been standing. Surrounding them, many other Marines too fell, though the impact was greatly reduced by Garp and Sengoku.

When Roger saw that Ace had survived, he felt so damned relieved that his Haki imploded on himself, and suddenly, his titanic flow of Haki stopped too abruptly.

For a second, there was no sound at all, for Roger's Haki had stilled itself, except for the shrill shrieking of Luffy. His louder cries filled the battlefield, and all stopped to stare at the teenager.

The teenager whose Haki crowned him to be a King.

For none other than one who had traits to be a king could possess the Haoshoku.

The pirates and their commanders were completely stunned. This… brat? He was able to use the Conqueror's?

Awe-struck in surprise, even the Admirals admired the young man.

Many Marines would not even have known what this type of Haki was, but this lot here, the ones still standing, were the strongest of the strong, and therefore they were strong in both mind, muscle, and knowledge.

Marines still fell, undoubtedly. Dozens of men clad in whites with the symbol of the Seagull and of the Cross crashed into the stone-paved ground, and backed over in froth.

The Earth was a mix of red and white now, yet still the red was of a higher amount than the white, obviously.

After the moment when the world had stopped to a standstill, there arrived a gigantic cheer which shook the earth.

"Yeahhhh!"

"That's how ya do it!"

Half the pirates did not even know what had happened, and yet, they cheered. Ignorance is bliss, they say, but knowledge wouldn't have lessened the lightness of their hearts, I say.

Marco the Phoenix, staring at the young Luffy, sighed. "He did it…..?" It was an exclamation, but it did not feel so, seeing the fact that Marco was now almost dead, and was regenerating.

Akainu, momentarily stopping his conflict with Whitebeard, grimaced at Strawhat. "Its seems that just now. . . That was done outside of his consciousness…"

Yet Admiral Kizaru would not stop with his mockery and sarcasm even if the world ended. But this telling of his did not seem to be a fake telling. "What fearsome power he has residing inside his teeny-tiny body~" he said, and his mouth quivered more than once.

Garp there, he gave just the opposite reaction to what one might've expected. His face remained the same, and his voice, but his words carried something else. "Luffy… I knew you had it in you."

Garp, just after redacting his own Haki, spoke those words. Oh, he was getting older. Long, long ago had been the time when he was on par with Roger. At that golden age, he and Roger had been equals; or almost, or so they say.

At one point of time, Garp's sheer strength was even capable of overpowering Roger's own brawn, in that specific category alone. But that era was long past.

Right now, as Roger had just demonstrated, Gol. D. Roger was even more powerful than Garp and Sengoku put together, even if only by a hair's breadth.

Ugh, Garp thought. What happened to Roger's aging? Surely that 80 year-old man couldn't have withheld all of his prime might? How? If he, Garp the Hero could become weaker by the slow erosion of Time, then why didn't Roger become the same? What is the secret behind this?

Garp stared intently at Roger, and found out a few details. For one, Roger's hair was as black as ever, with not the slightest hint of white or even gray. But that could be altered by a sinple use of hair-colouring dye. What was of more peculiarity was that . . . His face… there were cracks in his face. Thin paper-like cracks spreading around it, giving it an artificial feel. And moreover, Garp could not see it properly, but his eyes… they seemed black as the sky above Marineford.

What is this sorcery? Is this some kind discovery or invention made by the nerd scientists? What did they do to him? Probably some experiment which degraded his facial fratures but provided him his prior prime strength.

If Garp was fully caught up with the science of Vegapunk, there was nothing like this that was yet invented in the world. Irritated, Garp shook his head with a jerk and focused on the battlefield in front of him.

In the plaza, the leftover Marines shouted in despair, and were extremely infuriated at Luffy.

"Commodores, attack!"

"Don't think of this guy as a rookie…!"

"It's the revolutionary Dragon's son… And that just makes his behaviour more obvious!"

"Don't let him get away… He'll for sure become a great enemy one day . . .!" Yelled one Vice-Admiral who went by the canine name of Doberman.

Though the shouts were enough to make any man bleed, Luffy endeavoured unfazed through the fires of battle.

Using his special Gear 2, he stampeded through the hoards of Marines, now dwindled to a mere number of little more than 2000.

Each Marine, each of a rank no less than that of a Captain, trued to stand a worthy obstacle before Luffy, but he easily without hinderance kicked or punched them all away with just a clean swipe.

Seeing this brilliance of a boy, Emporio Ivankov asked Strawhat, being astonished, " Vhere did you obtain that kind of power, boi?"

Unfortunately and a tad bit of surprisingly , Luffy did not even know what he had done. He just assumed that the falling of the Executioners were a gift from the Pirate King, and he persevered on without a second thought. Little did he know that he had changed the course of history.

Ivankov's eyebrows broadened from his sparkly eyes, as he replied, " Nothing!"

The Queen thought, he doesn't even realise it! It's a dormant power, but no wonder it attracts people! The blood to fight what has never been seen, Dragon!

All the Marines were still shocked from the impact Roger had caused, and thus none had the darings to go near him. Therefore, all tried to round Whitebeard and take him down, but little did they know that he was going to be no easier to defeat than any Admiral.

As the groups of layered Marines, each in the same uniform, but some tattered and splashed with blood, ran valiantly towards the monstrous pirates, little did they know that they were the goat and the pirates the butcher.